Lost In Riddles

Her Father
A tyrant, a dictator, know by all and feared by many. A truly terrible heritage it is to be the daughter of Lord Voldemort. Romany Riddle.After 26 wizarding school experiences and the terrible taunts and treatment at Beauxbatons. It only seems sensible to move school, somewhere permanent and practical. But Hogwarts?
The sorting hat, something Romany had feared as it was inevitable she'd be in Slytherin of course, and everyone knew it. Apparently not as she is placed in Gryffindor. Of course her DADA teacher would turn out to be a Death eater, and he’d constantly harass her.In the midst of this as The Triwizard Tournament approaches, of course one of the schools they’d be competing against would be Beauxbatons. Obviously meaning all the horrible bints would appear and try to charm her crush Cedric Diggory who clearly was only interested in one person. And lastly it was typical she’d become dangerously close to Harry Potter.

5. Chapter Four: Qudditch Part II

Nicole didn’t have a very strong constitution; she spent the remainder of the game – which had to be a good 30 minutes – in a terrible temper. Snapping at me, attempting to attack me (I do say attempting), groaning and vomiting. Like the good friend I was I didn’t once complain, instead of returning her attacks I simply blocked or dodged, I didn’t snap at her and I remained calm and composed. Well I wasn’t actually calm and composed but on the outside I was.

I was starting to wonder if she was playing on it a little bit, not wondering actually I knew she was playing on it, a lot. She was genuinely ill at first but then she just sat there and groaned for no reason. When the game finished all the Irish supporters set up a little party with a bonfire and music, suddenly Nicole perked up and wandered off with some girls. Nicole invited me to come with her, but after walking behind the gaggle I felt put off and sat down on my own. They all were talking about things I didn’t know about, laughing at random words (probably inside jokes) and I didn’t know any of their names at all. Also as a natural calamity queen I attracted some negative drama, so now they all hate me.

The conversation mainly consisted of: Nicole, A tall bitchy girl (Queen Bee I assume), a plain girl (she wasn’t plain but rather demure compared to some of the other…let’s call it cosmetic choices), two yeah right girls (two almost identical girls who just repeat what everyone else says, laughs and says “Uh, yeah!” with low IQ’s) and lastly we have good old me. There was a couple of other girls but they didn’t speak much, well at least not in this portion of the conversation.

The conversation went rather like this.

Nicole: Do you remember that time when Bartholomew went you know where and you know what.

(At this point Zara glares at Bitchy girl with intensity, but bitchy girl doesn’t notice fuelled by the cackles of the two yeah right girls.)

Yeah right girls: Fiasco…Fiasco, Oh my god. Fiasco.

Bitchy Girl: Give over parroting me.

Plain girl (who I now know to be Zara): What ever happened to Bartholomew anyway?

Bitchy girl: He got he braces taken off, got a hair cut,, shortened his name to Bart, worked out then got a spot on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team as a beater. Now he’s totally hot, well if you’re averagely popular not if you’re as popular as me of course.

Yeah right girls: No way, as popular as you? In his dreams.

Nicole: Really last thing I heard was you asked him out and he rejected you for being too narcissistic.

Bitchy Girl: Who told you that?

Zara: He did and all his friends.

Bitchy Girl: Shut up Zara no one asked you to speak.

Me: She needs permission to speak? What is this a courtroom are you Judge self-centered cow?

Bitchy girl: And you are?

Me: Did I permit you to ask me a question? (At this point I mocked her voice and she definitely noticed)

Yeah right girls: Ohhh you don’t speak to her like that….

Bitchy Girl: What did I say shut up! Not bad I like your spirit kid; you have a sharp tongue… wit.

Me: Kid? Last time I checked we were the same age.

Bitchy girl: don’t ruin it, I see you have potential; you’re transferring to Hogwarts? How would you like to be my new best friend?

Yeah right girls: You said we were your best friends.

Bitchy Girl: That was last week! How can I have two nobody parrots as my BFFL’s, no one even knows your names. Including me and you’ve been following me since first year.

Yeah Right Girl One: Well my name is…

Bitchy Girl: I’d rather stay unknowledgeable on that fact, thank you very much.

Yeah right girl two: She clearly doesn’t want to know you because she likes me better.

Bitchy Girl: Their popularity feeds off mine that is why they always fight to be my better friend. Would you like to be my better friend? (Holds out hand.)

Me: Sorry I like friends who want to be my friend for a friendship, not for a convenience. I’m not your point scorer and I will not turn into one of your slaves. I don’t like people who constantly put others down to make themselves feel better, including their own friends. I will certainly not entertain a complete egotist, who has about a mind as open as Azkaban and whose head has so much air that even outer space the biggest vacuum there is couldn’t muster enough power to deflate or retrieve it.

That was my interesting conversation, I didn’t give Bitchy Girl enough chance to come up with a comeback because I walked off and now I’m sat here alone. I was a naturally short tempered person and people like that really blew on my wick until I just exploded. Girls like that were everywhere at Beauxbatons so I was a dab hand at dealing with them.

I hope girls like that were far and few between at Hogwarts, because I couldn’t deal with having more than one prime enemy. No doubt she’d be hunting me down now, like some kind of payback. Just then plain girl a.k.a Zara as I should probably call her now, sat beside me she smiled at me I simply grimaced in reply. Maybe Bitchy girl had sent her over to threaten me.

“What is it, is it a classic ‘you better watch you back’ or a more elaborate still slightly unoriginal ‘I will get you get you when you least expect it’ if so I’m not bothered. She can’t be that tough if she sends a messenger.” I sighed.

“No nothing like that.” Zara replied, maybe this called for something new, something I hadn’t heard before if so I was prepared for her to lay it on me. “I didn’t come over to be messenger; I just came over to say hi.” Zara was a small skinny girl, with long blonde hair and classic chocolate brown eyes.

“Really, because I thought I was condemned to eternal, social, damnation. Why would you want to speak to me?”

“Because I think it was really brave of you to stand up to Verona, no one ever does but it’s about time someone did and I’m glad you did. As much as she makes out she’s not that popular.” Zara replied.

“I use the term very loosely but why are you friends with that girl, she’s awful.” I asked, it had always puzzled me how awful people like that manage to get attention and love. Surely no one can sail through life based on money or good looks alone, yet so many people managed to do it. It was absolute nonsense!

“I don’t really know to be honest, she’s a pain but hanging out with Verona has perks.”

“Do any amount of perks account for the way she treats you. You’re pretty, nice and seem smarter than that, you could easily find better friends. If I can manage it you can” Zara stopped and thought then, I could tell she was actually really starting to wonder about their “friendship” like I said I use the term very loosely.

“If you can manage it? But I get what you’re saying but it’s a sort of habit now and I’ve adjusted to it, I can’t imagine just suddenly finding new friends.” Zara simply sighed, sitting back slightly and gazing into the distance.

“Verona is beyond terrible but trust me you can do better, my best friend can be extremely self-centered, up himself and rude. But never once in a million years would he speak or treat me the way Verona did you.”

“I guess…What was your name again?” Zara asked, she seemed adamant upon staying friends with Verona. I guess I had to respect that after all it was her life and I barely knew her. Was I really the person to be dishing out advice? Look how messed up my life is.

“Romany, Romany Riddle.” I mumbled.

“Oh… as in…” She trailed off.

“Yes as in you-know-who; crap isn’t it? I bet you want to run away screaming back to Verona now.” I cried, there was a silence in which I feared. The last name bomb drop was never good, but people were going to have to get used to it.

“No, I’m not going to run back to Verona; she probably hasn’t even noticed I’ve gone.” I smiled at Zara; it was nice of her to want to stay with me. It actually made me feel good that she didn’t mind who I was, even if she was hesitant at first.

Speaking of Verona, I scanned around to see what she was doing. I noticed her by the stage where the musicians were twirling her hair, attempting to seem attractive. Well I say attempting to make myself feel better, as much as I hated her she was just one of those people who was physically perfect in every way. No doubt if we both fell in a sewer I would come out looking like a normal person who had just crawled out of a sewer; she would come out smelling of roses probably with a new fashionably messy hair-do. I cease to understand why God punished us with these kinds of people.

Zara noticed me looking at Verona and copied, scoffing when she saw Verona in her seductive pose.

“Oh Verona.” I sighed.

“You know Verona is going to be pissed you didn’t join her team, especially when she finds out your name.”

“My name?”

“Her and her parents are like a crazy, dark, death-eater family.”

“Oh sounds fun.” I said, I wasn’t really paying attention to Zara because I really wanted to know why Verona was seductively posing when there weren’t any males in view. “Who is Verona posing at?”

“Who isn’t Verona posing at.” Zara laughed.

“No not in general I mean specifically now.” I replied.

“I don’t know but I better go she might wonder where I am, bye Romany.” Zara said practically sprinting off.

“Bye Zara!” I called, I looked at Verona she was a perfect, her hair was nut brown and casually effortless, she had tan skin not as dark as me she was still white just a slight caramel colour. She had full lips, a flat figure and startling green eyes. Although she would have been a plain Jane a Beauxbatons, as she lacked the poise, grace and delicateness of that kind perfect. No Verona was a different category of perfect all together.

I didn’t know what Nicole was doing hanging around with that kind of crowd; after nice girls like Ivory even Zara after a while it just seemed a bit sad. Maybe Nicole was a drifter popular enough to hang out with the likes of Verona but not too popular to hang out with other crowds like Ivory and whoever else she liked the look of.

I zoomed in on Verona’s train of thought it wasn’t hard; I could sense she was getting frustrated with something, why wouldn’t he notice her. As not to disappoint her followers she looked to them.

“He’s just given me the signal.” Verona lied, there was no signal she just wanted to seem like she knew what she was doing.

“Signal…What signal?” Yeah right girl one said, she had mousy brown hair, freckles dotted all across her nose and almost colourless grey eyes. Verona only pretended not to know her name; she very well knew it was Lisa Simmonds.

“Yeah Verona, what signal.” The other yeah right girl said, she looked exactly the same as the other yeah right girl except her mousy brown hair differed in colour slightly; it was darker as they were in fact sisters, twins to be more specific, her name was Abby Simmonds.

“It’s too subtle for me to tell you, it’s not something you can just learn. You have to have a natural ammilotation for these things.” Verona sighed brushing them away from her like dust ammilotation? Now you know and I know that isn’t a word, I think she meant affiliation but she was trying to seem smart.

“Oh totally.” Abby replied, even Abby deep down knew that it wasn’t a word. But Verona knows best after all…her words not mine.

“It’s obvious Cedric and I will make the perfect couple, it was either him or your cousin Nicole. I could never do that to you Nicole, and I like a man who’s a little more mature in his ways.” Verona explained rather loudly, I sighed Verona was so pretty she’d have him in a matter of seconds. I couldn’t picture any Howgarts girl even, matching up to her, and if Cedric was as picky as Ivory had stated then it was inevitable…Why was I so bothered? I barely knew him and as I stated I just wanted to be his friend; I didn’t date.

Yes that’s right I don’t date, if you remember I said I don’t do intense emotion. One of those emotions was love, it didn’t exist! My father left my mother, my father left me until recently, My Grandad and Grandma were the only statement of love I’d ever seen and all that went on was she ordered him about and he whined at her about it.I bet you the only reason they’re still together is because they were entirely Roman Catholic, divorce is like a huge sin. Especially when you already have children, two children! Then My Aunt Georgiana and My Uncle Ray constantly bickered.

I liked to keep my distance, with people.

“Oh my god Verona you’re so right I can so picture it now.” Lisa cried with fake enthusiasm – so could I – “It’s ridiculously perfect!” I looked over to Cedric with his band of friends, they were all drinking something. I didn’t have a clue what it was.

“He’s with some guys though, how are you going to penetrate that group and just target him, anyway last I heard of him he’s interested in someone else.” Nicole added in, Verona ignored Nicole purposely.

“Watch and learn ladies.” Verona sighed adjusting her outfit and putting on her best smile; I had to be up close for this. Immediately, I got up and found a spot closer to the action, I sat on a log that was conveniently place adjacent to everything. “Hi boys, how’s your summer been?” Verona said sweetly, the all replied simultaneously in a positive way, you know that thing that boys do. When they mumble a sort of reply you can’t understand, but you can tell what they mean by how they say it.

“By the looks of things Cedric you had a great summer…”Verona trailed off.

“What makes you say that?” Cedric replied.

“I didn’t think it was possible but you’re even cuter than last year.” Verona replied seductively, this girl was good it wasn’t just what she said, the way she said it, how she stood it was too attractive. And I was a straight female! “So what are your plans at school this year?” She walked closer up to him and playfully touched his arm… “More Quidditch, More Gifted Classes, Prefect another year or perhaps…New…closer friends” Her hand was at his wrist now, close to holding his…Wow! How do people do that! Just be so damn subtly flirtatious as not to embarrass themselves, but enough so even a thick skulled boy would notice! If I did that I just get a weird look and he’d say something like “Erm get off me you potato!”

“I see you don’t want to talk much, its fine I’m good at not talking” She replied suggestively, was she sure about that because all she’d done was talk since I’d met her. She leaned up closer to him: they were going to kiss, she was going to kiss him, he was going to kiss back, everyone would see and they’d live happily ever after. But they didn’t, Cedric surpassed my low expectations and grabbed both of Verona’s shoulders pushing her back gently.

“Listen I’m flattered and I’m sure you’re a very nice girl but I’m…Not interested. So no thanks.” Cedric replied awkwardly, there was a chorus of chins crashing to the ground. Even mine!

“Flattered? Cedric I think I gave you the wrong impression I was simply going to state there was something on your cheek.” Verona brushed his cheek. “All gone! But if you ever did want to, I’m not far away.” Verona winked and sashayed off, she even made rejection look good. As much as I hated her this girl should write a book “How to be irresistible even in the midst of rejection”

“What are you looking at!” Verona hissed at me, perhaps I was gawping a little too much.

“I was watching and learning, learning how to be point blank rejected. Thanks for the educational lesson love.” I winked at her mockingly she scoffed and stomped off, I heard a very familiar laughter and I turned to see Cedric looking very merry again. He noticed me looking and waved, Verona also noticed the wave and glared at me face like thunder…oops? I went a reddish sort of colour and did a small awkward wave back. Verona did a watching you motion and continued away concealed by the coos and encouragements by her followers.

I got up to walk back to my original seat.

“Hey Romany.” Cedric called, I smiled at him and changed my direction towards him and his now slightly disbanded group of friends.

“Hey, nice crew.” I said waving to some of his friends, some of them waved back most merely nodded.

“Wouldn’t exactly call it a crew; I saw your little altercation with Verona.” He changed the subject.

“My Altercation? Boy, what about your altercation to me it looked like you were totally in there.” I laughed, punching him in the arm playfully.

“Yeah…Well I don’t fancy it.”

“It? Come on she’s not that bad.”

“No I meant as in a relationship I wasn’t referring to Verona as an it.”

“Of course you weren’t.” I whispered in his ear, he simply spluttered slightly almost spitting out his drink as if trying to conceal laughter. He then looked down at his feet swilling his drink around slightly. “Why don’t you fancy it though?” I asked him, because I was really confused as to why.

“Because she’s not my type.”

“How.”

“Shes just really not my type.”

“I knew it!”

“Knew what.”

“You’re gay!”

Cedric then choked on his drink.

“Romany I’m not gay!” He gasped.

“Oops.” I laughed; he was very red in the face now. “Tell me what is your type then, Mr picky.”

“I’m not picky! I just don’t date random girls I barely know. I like someone with a decent personality, Verona is a….” He trailed off.

“A bully, an egomaniac, a bitch?”

“Foul foul language for a young lady” Cedric tutted.

“Oh ssh!”

“What about you, you had any altercations lately.” He said putting air finger quotation marks around the word altercations.

“Maybe…Actually I’m looking at one.” I said wiggling my eyebrows up and down jokingly, his face went a weird expression that I didn’t understand and he took a drink swallowing it hard so I just laughed. “No I’m kidding; I mean you and me, ridiculous right?” I giggled.

I stole the drink out of his hand and took a sip, spitting it out straight away. “That tastes awful, what the hell is it Alcohol?” I passed the drink back to him.

“Maybe.” He said, winking at me. I gasped in reply.

“Good boy Diggory drinking alcohol, who left the key to the library lying around?” I cried sarcastically.

“Nah, its not…its…Well I don’t actually know what it is someone just handed it to me.”

“Someone just handed it to you? Smooth for all you know you could be drinking urine, well at least that’s what it tastes like.” I laughed; I looked up and caught him looking at me funny; it made me feel extremely uncomfortable. “What are you looking at me like that for?”

“No reason, just intrigued because I realised I know hardly anything about you, yet I get on with you better than some of my closest friends.” He pointed out, he did have a point by the looks of us you wouldn’t think we’d only known each other less than a day.

“Well what do you want to know about me.” I offered.

“I’d like if you stopped being a Just Romany and told me your name.” He replied, I knew I hadn’t told him my name, but in my Defense I didn’t think we’d get this far I thought the first time I met him would be the b-all and end-all of our relationship.

“I can but you have to promise it won’t affect anything we’ve been through today.” I sighed.

“Its just a name why would it.”

“Because my name is Romany Riddle and He who shall not be named is my absent father.” I cried trying to make it sound like a joke, only to make myself feel better I knew it was far from one. I didn’t like being serious about things, like I said no intense forms of emotion.

“Like I said it’s just a name.” He said like it was nothing, and no one had ever done that before. Even people who had accepted my name eventually panicked a little when they heard it, but no one had ever just brushed it off and not cared about it like he did.

“That has to be the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me!” I exclaimed, in excitement I hugged him tightly and he hugged back. “Thanks.” I sighed breaking away from him.

“Its… Ummn fine.” He coughed; well it was a fake cough. The worst, least inconspicuous fake cough I’d ever heard; normally I’d make some ridiculous sarcastic comment but instead I just shook my head at him. Only for him to hold his hands out and pull me a questioning look as if to say “what?”

A troop of Irish people doing a can-can style dance in a row fell at our feet and began laughing heartily. “Irish people are so jolly don’t you think?” Cedric laughed, getting up off his feet to help some people up. I joined in trying to help a very giggly woman up.

“That’s because they’re bloody drunk most of the time.” I laughed; everything was interrupted by a huge explosion. The music stopped, drunk people suddenly regained awareness as an air of foreboding began to dawn. Immediately I knew. “Death-Eaters!” I screamed.

After that everyone began screaming and running away, stumbling around to try and find the way out. There was a rush of blazing inferno, spitting at us in bitter disgust. As the aromea of acrid smoke tainted the night air; the shrill screams echoed through the darkness, carouselling through my fragile mind. Cedric grasped my hand pulling me along to run, the crowd was overwhelming. Enough for me to lose reach of Cedric, causing me to panic.

No one knew where they were running to, as everyone was frantic in different directions. So I did all I could think to do and I took off in a random direction and ran. Dark fires erupting all around me, bangs like a thousand rifles had taken open fire. Constantly, being bumped into by people and not taking the time to say sorry.

Then I saw them.

Hooded figures, slashing their wands about all masked. I didn’t have time to be scared because an explosion brewed from behind me sending me crashing to the ground. My vision was blurred, I couldn’t hear anything except a deep ringing in my ears. Eventually, I lost consciousness.

***

I could feel frustration and anger rising with in me, but at the same time fear and sadness. The world around me was suspended in animation, blood was pouring from a cut in my forehead and I was clutching my wand tightly so tightly it had left a red imprint in my hand.

My father was there, smiling evily and my mother was stood crying covering her face with her hands.

I had done something, something very bad.

****

Was I dead? I was dead wasn’t I? I got a gasp of smoke and began coughing violently.

“I told you she wasn’t dead just unconscious!” A voice said, I didn’t know the voice why couldn’t I see? I felt the cold ground beneath me, if I was dead this afterlife wasn’t fun, it was cold and smoky. Managing to get my brain to connect my eyelids I managed to regain blur of vision, there was a tiny speck of light and the rest was darkness. I tried to push myself up but my hands wobbled underneath me and all I did was fall back to the ground, groaning.

“Am I dead?” I managed to rasp.

“No you’re very much alive, thank god. I thought you were dead but Harry insisted he saw you breathing.” A female voice replied, I blinked and manage to slowly regain vision. A girl was leaning over me she had illuminated her wand, it was Hermione granger. That means with her must be…My body suddenly responded and I pushed myself up and yelped. “You gave us quite a fright, Ron’s clumsy feet manage to find you. Thought you were a tree branch at first, are you okay.”

Bloody peachy! I felt like responding, but that was rude.

“Fine I think.” I mumbled, just then I caught sight of the dark mark in the sky. “Oh.”

“Ron, Hermione, Harry!” A voice called, just then an older man ran up to us, it was Mr Weasley I remembered him from when Cornelius greeted him at the games. He looked as if he were about to say something, but then he noticed me on the ground. “Oh dear, what happened?” He said.

“I’m not sure I haven’t tried.” I replied, I attempted to push myself up with my hands and managed to get up but when I took step forward almost fell over. Harry caught me and propped me against his shoulder.

“Harry you help Romany and I’ll sort these two out.” He said walking ahead of us slightly, he then interrupted both Hermione and Ron’s argument and ushered them along. Leaving me and Harry alone, I think at this moment I must have gone even whiter than Nicole earlier.

“What happened to you anyway?” Harry asked me breaking the silence.

“I was with a friend, we lost each other; I got confused and ran in the wrong direction. Straight into the death-eaters something exploded beside me and knocked me unconscious.” I explained.

“I wonder why they came here.” He then began to think hard, his green eyes narrowed in frustration.

“Thank you.” I said, he stopped thinking for a moment and looked down at me. “I probably would have died if you hadn’t found me.” I began it find my feet again and I let go of Harry and hobbled beside him instead.

“That’s a bit dramatic.” He insisted.

“Eh! No it isn’t I was laid on the cold ground underneath a pile of rubble and ash breathing in carbon monoxide. That kind of thing kills a person. So again thank you and accept it this time.” Then out of impulse or perhaps due to too many elqouency lessons, I kissed him on the cheek.

“I-It was ummn nothing.” He mumbeled.

“Pretty big nothing…Can I be honest with you?”

“I guess.”

“You are not what I expected.”

“Expected?”

“Ever since I was little you have been banned from my house, so I had no clue about anything of you. No papers or articles or books, then when I met you I was surprised at how normal you were.”

“While we’re on the subject I was surprised when I met you, your pretty normal yourself.”

“Depends what you define as normal, but normal is good I can live with normal.” I laughed.